Stimulus Checks Are a Joke!
But No One is Laughing
It is said what a president does in the first 90 days in office will pretty much give an accurate idea of how the rest of his term will play out. If we were to judge President Obama on his decision to freeze salary caps on his white house staff at $100,000, the future looks promising. Now with talks of a second stimulus check are on the minds and tongues of American citizens, I ask the question, will another stimulus check jump-start the economy?
Last year when former President Bush gave Americans stimulus checks in the amounts of: $300, $600, $1,200 & $1,5000 in attempts to revitalize the economy, I wondered why I didn't see a difference in the activity of the economy? I really don't know too many people making over $50k yearly, gross, so I understand first hand the economic struggles many "lower income" families have. I was also, both happy and confused; at the fact former President Bush was giving much needed money to the citizens who elected him. But what problem did that solve? Did the economy improve? That answer is no!
In 2008 a number of retail stores closed such as, Bombay Co., Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Linen 'N Things, Steve & Barry, Sharper Image Corp., KB toys, Mervyns, to name a few. But if the stimulus checks were meant to jumpstart the economy, why did these companies close their doors? Did the stimulus checks come too late? Where the denominations not enough? Why was it a failure and what will the second stimulus checks do for the economy?
The reason why stimulus checks are a joke is because you can't throw money at a money problem and expect it to fix the problem. Especially if the money you are throwing at the money problem already comes with debt attached. You didn't know that? Yes, every dollar the government gets and put into circulation already comes with a 90% debt attached to it. That is why our country is trillions of dollars in debt, well that and the fact we are fighting a pointless and expensive "war". But just how far can $500-$1,200 per household go? Speaking to my family and friends who received their stimulus checks last year, they spent that money on bills or creditors, not on retail goods like cars, homes and etc. So what is the point of a stimulus check? I will tell you. It's to give the American public the perception that the government "cares" about the people, which is a lie. Because if the government really cared about the people, I mean honestly cared, we would not be at war, which is sucking money out of our country every second of everyday.
To date our administration has spent $592 billion (www.costofwar.com) on the Iraq war. Wow! Where could that money have gone if we were not at war? Would this past presidential election be surrounded by talks of economy, healthcare and taxes if we weren't at war? I don't think so. In 2008 there was a report stating there are 303,824,640 people living in the United States. How many of those people are barley making ends meet? If we divide the two numbers previously stated you will realize that the money we have spent on the Iraq war is enough money to give each American at least $1 million dollars. $1 million dollars would definitely help the economy, even a quarter of that will revitalize it. That money will buy homes, which will keep the real estate market going and banks lending. $1 million dollars will get people out of debt, and $1 million dollars would keep companies' open and jobs plentiful and we would all be happy. Right? Right, so why aren't we? Because as long as the people and the country are in debt we will forever be dependent on the government, we will forever be working for the country to pay off the debt that they have purposely put us in.
A stimulus check? You have to be kidding me. With unemployment rates at an all time high, foreclosures and businesses closing, all a "stimulus" check will do is get the majority of the American people through the week. Then where will that leave us? Back at square one is where. Still in a recession and on a path to a depression. So don't get your hopes up with talks of a "stimulus" check because that is a slap in the face to the American people. A couple hundred bucks isn't going to jumpstart anything, we should have realized that the first time.
Published by Shaun M Mathis
I am 26 from Connecticut that enjoys thinking and writing about articles "outside the box" I am a bit argumenative but I also shed new light to previous & existing topics/situations that are going on all ar... View profile
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11 Comments
Post a CommentBy the way, the majority of people NOW hold retail jobs, but that's a passing fad. More and more people are going into technical fields and before that it was the industrial/factory jobs. Actually manual labor jobs were holding it down not even a few decades ago. Retail stores gained popularity as the industrial market started changing, so the economy moved with it. Technical jobs will someday be a fad too by the time we're senior citizens and machines will probably do everything. I'm curious what the next fad will be.
Shaun, we're guilty of that too. I dropped off a package of books at the Southside Community Art Center in Bronzeville (a predominantly Black area of Chicago), and one of the owners asked me why don't I get my books printed in China instead of here. We've gotten so bad that we don't even want to support Americans, not just the government shipping jobs. We are too! I'm not going to act like I'm above it, driving a basically new Japanese car. However, the economy has never been perfect so that's a head-in-the-clouds thought. Shit, folks were surviving for four centuries off of free labor so they're definitely not going to stop the greed now. That's what America was built from: greed. However, Obama wants to do both. Bring jobs back here and give out stimulus checks. In the meantime, please feel free to mail me your endorsed check since it's a joke. I will happily cash it.
Point is that a stimulus check is a temporary fix and is a smoke screen. Its an illusion that the problem is being handled or some attention is being given to it. But if you want to confuse or gain the trust of people then what do you do? Throw money at it and that is not going to work. The real fix is to end the bullshit war, keep our oil, food, technology and textiles at home instead of going outside of our country for everything. Why would consumers be proud of our country if we go to other countries for everything we have in our household. Our televisions, cars, freakin ipods are all made outside this country. So what will a stimulus package mean to more than half the people getting them? Flock to a store or car dealership to buy things made outside our country and put us further in debt. Us meaning the people and the country. So it doesnt make any sense. If we end the war that is $592 billion dollars for jobs, education, healthcare and energy for OUR country. The $300-$1500 we eac
I understand that as well, I understand what both of you are saying. But if you take a line from my Cheating article when I said, "we are born, raised and live in a system that makes us want more," or something like that. What is an economy? A system of the exchange of goods by way of legal tender. So if we had no debt and the economy was perfect why would we need money in the first place? But since retail keeps everything going on what would be have if it all fizzeled out. Say all the retail stores closed, then we would all have money to pay bills right? But like in the Great Depression, retail stores went first, then the major corporations until the only real business left were energy, food and some newspapers. Well the majority of people holds what kinds of jobs? The ones I've mentioned and they all fall like dominoes if the one in front fails.
Shaun, I do see where you're coming from with retail stores closing, but again, if we're looking out for our own debt, I'd rather be able to pay my own bills than worry about some store. I kinda get where Christopher is going. People were opening stores just because they could instead of trying to make the most profit from those available. When or if you come to Chicago, you'll see what I mean. There is a Walgreens on almost every single corner, and then when they don't make money, the complain about the economy when it was really no need to even BUILD another one if I can walk two blocks the other way to get to the first one. I think that's what he was trying to say.
You are right, people should put that stimulus money in a bank or make it work for them in an IRA or something but how could you do that if once you get the money you are already in debt, kinda like you were. Then what is your option? Or what about the people that work their fingers to the bone, dont they deserve to reward themselves with the "money" the received? I just think you should look at all sides of those circumstances when making comments like that.
Christopher, you are correct. Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns are financial consulting firms. I started out just wanting to talk about retail buinesses but I kinda wrote down the company names I could remember that closed, not knowing I had mentioned those two. But how could you say that it is a good thing that retail stores closed down? What about the jobs that are lost due to those closings? What about the people that were not fortunate to go to college and obtain "other" jobs who work retail. My sister works retail, started at the bottom and worked her way up to regional manager, what about her job. I think that is a messed up thing to say. People feed their children with those capital stores.
Shaun a lot of people used that for that debt! Myself I still owed the government for back taxes, and still do owe then $100, so I didn't see that stimulus check at all. They just took the stimulus check for what I owed them. If you were smart you put that money in the bank, rather than spend it on a brand new television. Does anyone honestly give a ... about retail stores when we're so broke we get excited about a sale at Old Navy? Hell it was a good thing that retail stores did close, because there was entirely too much retail per capita in the United States anyway. No other country has so much retail per capita. Shaun wasn't Lehman Brothers a financial consulting firm, as well as Bear Stearns?
One more thing: Considering you think Barack Obama is a puppet and didn't vote for him, why are you "more proud of the optimistic attitude toward the future of our country." I don't know if you wanted that known in this article because you don't talk about your beliefs on Obama, but I'm curious because I do know your views on him from other conversations. I'd expect you to think Obama supporters were gullible and be disgusted by us, not proud. Please explain.
...stimulus check about four days before my rent was due and had absolutely no savings because I was really stretching ends after that severence package paid my car note, credit card bills, etc.
So, while it may seem like companies weren't gaining a profit, bill collectors were. I'm sure ComEd was all too happy to take some of my stimulus check to keep the lights on, RCN was happy to get my Internet/cable/phone money, etc. Yes, stores did close, but honestly, would I rather ComEd and RCN and my real estate company go into debt or some retail store? I'll take the companies I rely on for work and home, thanks.